Distrust in Humanity: A Sad State of Affairs

It’s plastered on the news. Everywhere you look, pictures, articles, videos. The many wars taking place, the discrimination against different ethnic groups, and the unprovoked abuse and violation humans inflict on other living things. All of these examples, lead to and embed distrust in humanity. This distrust leads everyone, in the crumbling relationships within humanity, to complete actions which would not be in their normal behaviour. This message is portrayed in the following images.

Sagirli, Osman. Hudea, 4, thought the camera was a weapon. CBC News.

Canadian Broadcasting Corp., Apr. 2015. Web. 31 May 2015.

<http://www.cbc.ca/news/trending/ syrian-girl-s-surrender-

to-photographer-caught-in-heartbreaking-image-1.3018051

To begin, at first glance this picture may seem harmless. Just a sad little girl with her hands up. However, if you look closer you will notice her surroundings are not the desired look one would associate with a good quality of life. There is garbage everywhere, and construction material scattered and broken. This provides insight into the life of this little girl. In truth, this girl is living in a Syrian refugee camp after living through nothing but civil war. Take another look at the photo. Notice the sad, fearful expression across her face and emphasized in her eyes. Now notice her hands. They are raised in the air above her head, surrendering. You might be wondering why she is surrendering to a man with a camera. However, living through years of war, she mistook his camera for a gun. By assuming he had a gun, she demonstrated her distrust in humanity. The war has made her fear for her life even when an unarmed man approaches her. In addition, her action of surrendering would not be in her normal behaviour if she had trusted adults. Thus proving how her distrust for humanity is deep rooted.  

Santana, Feidin. North Charleston Cop Fatally Shoots

Man as He Runs Away. Mail Online. Associate

Newspaper Ltd, 7 Apr. 2015. Web. 1 June 2015. 

<http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3029597/

    Cop-charged-black-man-s-murder-opening-fire-eight

-times-shooting-ran-away-saying-did-felt-threatened.html>.

Furthermore, this next picture also demonstrates the distrust in humanity shown through two different perspectives; the victim, and the police officer. Many people probably remember the story behind this picture as it is fairly recent. However if not, it has a pretty clear storyline captured in the photo and as many can guess, revolves around discrimination. The white police officer is seen here pointing his gun at an innocent black man. The police officer later shoots the man eight times while the man is running away. The police officer had initially pulled him over on the road which led to a small scuffle and the black man allegedly took the officer’s taser. Due to stereotypes and the long history of racism about and towards the black community, the officer believed the man to be guilty of something, therefore, proving he did not trust the man. It can be speculated that this distrust caused the police officer to shoot the man, thus completing an action that he would not normally do. However, the victim’s perspective is slightly different. The man is seen in the photo with his back turned, running away from the officer even though he is innocent. This shows the disconnect between the officer and the man. This disconnect could be a result of police brutality which has been surfacing in the headlines quite frequently this past year. Even if the man had not been subject to the brutality before that day, it still caused distrust resulting in the man fleeing even though he is not guilty. The man running away and the officer shooting at him could have been avoided if trust was more prominent in humanity than distrust. Granted, in a normal situation police generally don’t stop people they trust completely, however, a little trust could prevent situations like this from escalating so quickly since distrust greatly affects human behaviour.

To Protect Yourself You Can Put a Piece of Tape Over Your Camera. KSL. 

Deseret Media Company, 5 May 2011. Web. 1 June 2015.<http

://img.ksl.com/slc/2491/249136/24913616.jpg?filter=ksl/img332>.

In addition, indirect violation of a person can also lead to distrust in humanity as seen in this photo. With the rapid increase in the use of technology, there are more and more ways for hackers to invade your space. Privacy is very large aspect of a person’s life and when that is violated trust can be depleted. This photo depicts a person placing some sort of cover (the most frequently used material is tape or a sticky note) over the camera on their laptop. It is frequently heard in the media about how hackers watch people through their cameras on their electronic devices so this person covers their camera to protect themselves from the violation of privacy. The hackers violation, causes people to lose trust in humanity and feel the need to protect themselves. Covering of the camera would not be an action normally completed by a person if people felt safe and trusted those around them.

Cowering and Tail Tucking. If They Could Talk. N.p., 21 May 2015. Web. 2 June

2015. <http://assets.dogtime.com/cel_asset/image/4d88d3e449a88

26ef4003164/max_400_scared_dog.jpg>.

 
Finally, distrust in humanity does not have to be human to human. It can include human to animal as seen in this image. Two things pop out when looking at this photo. One being the human’s hand reaching down attempting to touch the dog, and the other being the dog cowering away from the person. A healthy, loved dog would not normally cower away from the

human touch but instead crave it. However, a previously abused dog would not have those same experiences that would allow the trust between them and humans to form. As you can see in the photo the person is not being aggressive, so by the dog cowering at a gentle person shows how entrenched the distrust the dog has for humans is due to previous wrongdoings inflicted upon it.

In summation, the distrust in humanity causes everyone in the collapsing relationships, including animals, to alter their behaviour to the point where they are completing actions not in their normal behaviour. This distrust can stem from living through war such as the little Syrian girl surrendering. It can also stem from the discrimination against different ethnic groups such as the black man wrongly killed by a white police officer. Finally, it can stem from the unprovoked abuse and violation humans inflict on other living things such as with the dog cowering away from a gentle hand, and the covering of cameras to protect one’s privacy.